Page 96 of The Secret We Keep
His voice gets louder, then he spins his head and looks at me.
My eyes widen, enjoying this more than I care to admit.
He points a finger my way, eyebrows wiggling like stupid caterpillars on his face.
“Oh my God you’ve lost it.” I burst into laughter, throwing my head back as Paddy goes into full voice, singing his heart out and holding his fisted hand out for me to sing into.
Rolling my eyes, my pulse beats in my veins.
Fine.
“Don’t be stupid!” I half sing, half shout, making him laugh, as the song’s words strike a chord in my chest. For the most part, we’re just two friends singing a song my parents used to listen to, and one I loved singing with my friends. But I know on a much deeper level, the connection we have is greater than friendship.
At least for me it is.
Once it’s finished, I look at Paddy. “Thank you for this,” I then say, running my gaze around the car, taking a few steadying breaths. Placing my hands on the wheel, I relax my shoulders with confidence. “I think I’m ready to have my first lesson.”
Paddy’s face lifts as he presses the starter button. “Well then, let’s go, curly fries.”
Okay, so driving an automatic car is much easier than the manual stuff I’ve read about.
Paddy’s let me drive around the carpark that circles Lovers Lake, over and over again. Steering without jerking the wheel is now easy, and I even managed to go backwards. Wait, I mean reverse. Yeah, Ireversedas well.
It feels good to be doing something new. Not only that, butIfeel good. I’m happy. And the more I think about it, I’ve only recently felt like this when I’m around Paddy.
“Ready to pack it in for today?”
Honestly? I could keep going round and round until this thing runs out of fuel.
“Yeah.” I come to a reluctant stop and press the little button with a P on it.
“You did good, curly fries.”
Paddy’s hand is now relaxed on his leg as opposed to gripping the wheel like he had to do to help me avoid a giant hole.
“You did too,” I confess, my tone gentle. “That can’t have been easy for you.”
He gives me a quick wink before opening his door. “Was better than I’d thought it’d be.” He gets out, and once we’re sitting in our original seats and heading away from the lake, Paddy asks, “Are you working tomorrow?”
I inhale, watching him drive. I’ve got the bug. “No. I only work Monday to Wednesday.”
“Well, seeing as I have some free time, shall we go out again? Get some more hours in.”
A car pulls onto the gravel path.
I beam at him. “Can we? You don’t mind?”
He flicks the indicator. “I wouldn’t offer if I minded.”
My head turns, heart swooping.
“But it really does look like people go dogging here,” he laughs, just as another car pulls onto the track, followed by another. “It’d be wise to find another place.”
I giggle. “I’d love to. Go driving, I mean. Not dogging.”
Christ.
“Got it,” he chuckles, cheeks reddening a little. “No dogging,” he clarifies.
